Image Description : A woman is laying on her back in a restorative yoga pose in the middle of a field. Her legs and head are supported by yoga blankets.

Recently I’ve had several clients share with me how tired they are.

Here in the Northeast we are enjoying our narrow window of warm weather and we all want to take advantage of every last minute of it. This often means long days that melt into nights, extra social activities, yard work, blueberry picking, and all that on top of our usual work and family responsibilities.

It’s no wonder we are exhausted! The Japanese have a word for summer fatigue - NATSUBATE which describes the lethargy that may result from too much sun exposer, not enough sleep, and the bodies difficulty in adjust to the fluctuations in temperature as we go in and out of air conditioning. Summer fatigue is a real thing.

How can we let the fatigue of July give way to the beautiful light of August?! With the impending back to school and fall weather, I am often called this of year to reconnect to presence.

Try this exercise which I call the YOGA PAUSE BUTTON.

1.) Stand outside. Feel your feet on the ground and the air on your skin.

2.) Listen to the sounds around you. What do you hear? In front of you and behind you. Listen to the 3 dimensional sound landscape.

3.) Identify the furthest sound away from you that you can hear and then the closest.

4.) Take 3 deep breaths.

5.) REPEAT as needed!

Listening to the sounds of nature is very healing. On a daily basis we process vast amounts of sensory input, which can lead to SENSORY OVERLOAD. Tuning into one sense at time, in this case our hearing, gives our nervous system a chance to “catch up”. In combination with our breath we send a signal to our nervous system that we can rest in this moment. Push your YOGA PAUSE BUTTON whenever you feel tired or overwhelmed to bring your body towards a more healing parasympathetic state.